The California governor asked the president to halt red-state map rewrites, warning that he would move to counter them.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom asked President Donald Trump in a letter on Aug. 11 to help stop mid-decade congressional redistricting efforts in Texas and other Republican-led states. He said California would consider redrawing its own map if those efforts continue.
“I am writing to ask you to call on the governor of Texas and other red states, who are acting on your request to draw new congressional maps through an unprecedented, mid-decade hyper-partisan gerrymander to rig the upcoming midterm elections, to stop those efforts,” Newsom wrote on Aug. 11.
The letter follows meetings in Sacramento last week between Newsom, California legislative leaders, and Texas Democratic lawmakers who had fled their state to avoid a vote on the GOP-led redistricting plan.
In a statement on Aug. 8, Newsom said, “Donald Trump is tipping the scales of justice toward injustice for us all,“ accusing the president of ”[preventing] voters from holding him accountable and [providing] a check” on his policies.
“California stands ready to flex its muscle to ensure the integrity of our democracy nationwide,” Newsom said.
Texas lawmakers who traveled to California said they plan to keep pressing their case.
“We came here knowing the risks,” Texas state Rep. Ann Johnson said in the same Aug. 8 statement.
“Lawsuits, threats, and intimidation won’t stop us. We swore an oath—not to Trump, not to Abbott, and not to any party. We swore to defend the Constitution and the people we represent. We’re not backing down.”
Democratic leaders in California also backed a potential ballot measure to allow voters to authorize a temporary congressional map change if Republican-led states move ahead with new maps.
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi said in the statement that Republicans are “trying to change the rules to redraw Congressional district maps and rig the elections in their favor.”
“Democrats must respond to Republicans’ blatant partisan power grab. We cannot and will not unilaterally disarm,” she said.
Newsom has already said California will move forward with a November ballot measure that would let voters temporarily adjust the state’s congressional map if Texas or other GOP-led states follow through with their redistricting plans.
At the same time, Newsom has said the state will remain committed to independent redistricting, and he characterized any California action as temporary and voter-approved. New maps, which Newsom said were already reviewed by the state’s independent redistricting commission, will be ready for scrutiny this week.
“You are playing with fire, risking the destabilization of our democracy, while knowing that California can neutralize any gains you hope to make,” Newsom said in his letter to the president. “This attempt to rig congressional maps to hold onto power before a single vote is cast in the 2026 election is an affront to American democracy.”
Newsom’s letter added that California “cannot stand idly by” if other states change maps before the 2026 midterms, but also stated that he prefers “independent, citizen-led” processes. He told Trump that California would “happily” stand down if red-state efforts end.
Texas Republicans have advanced a plan to add seats to their congressional map, prompting more than 50 Texas Democratic lawmakers to leave the state to prevent the necessary quorum.
“California is gerrymandered,” Trump told CNBC on Aug. 5. “We should have many more seats in Congress in California—it’s all gerrymandered. And we have an opportunity in Texas to pick up five seats.”
Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) has proposed a federal ban on mid-decade redistricting.
“Gerrymandering is a problem regardless of which party does it, and it certainly shouldn’t be done in the middle of the decade,” he said.
Kiley said that in his view, what Newsom was attempting in California “goes beyond that.”
The fight over timing and process now sits with state leaders and, in California, could be put before voters this fall. Newsom’s office has not released a final ballot measure, and Texas lawmakers remain in a standoff over the special session calendar.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the letter from The Epoch Times before publication time.
Aldgra Fredly contributed to this report.
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